138 MCGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Vocabulary Unit 5 Exercise Set I
Time—8 minutes
For each question, select the best answer among the choices given. Note any vocabulary words to
review on the Hit List below.- Elizabeth’s assistant was ------ with his words and
spoke only when it was absolutely necessary.
(A) improvident
(B) parsimonious
(C) antiquated
(D) clairvoyant
(E) sympathetic - The salary Julia received for her job was unsat-
isfactory, but the ------ were phenomenal: a den-
tal plan, five weeks of vacation, and a company
car.
(A) perquisites
(B) harbingers
(C) mercenaries
(D) impediments
(E) resolutions - In spite of his aggressive attempts to ------ us into
doing something against the law, we were able
to ------ from partaking in the illicit act.
(A) goad.. refrain
(B) cajole.. stagnate
(C) coax.. rebound
(D) impede.. abstain
(E) dissuade.. recuperate - Because the team had been eliminated from the
playoffs, they played with ------ in their final five
games, losing by an average of forty points per
game.
(A) fortitude
(B) apathy
(C) dread
(D) vigor
(E) resolution - The wise old man who lived at the top of the
mountain is visited often by villagers looking
for him to use his ------ powers to ------ their
future.
(A) olfactory.. augur
(B) tactile.. portend
(C) prescient.. divine
(D) prophetic.. console
(E) clairvoyant.. perjure - A departure from the bland food and mundane
atmosphere that characterized our recent din-
ing experiences, Chez Henri provided ------ cui-
sine and ------ ambience.
(A) pungent.. a hedonistic
(B) savory.. a transcendent
(C) piquant.. an artificial
(D) obsolete.. a supreme
(E) palatable.. an imperious - Management’s decision to raise the salaries of
the workers was more pragmatic than ------; the
executives didn’t want so much to be generous
as to keep the assembly lines moving.
(A) magnanimous
(B) mellifluous
(C) rigid
(D) masochistic
(E) frugal - After giving birth to her first child, the woman
was finally able to ------ with her mother about
the pain and discomfort that come with child-
birth.
(A) empathize
(B) collaborate
(C) perpetuate
(D) premeditate
(E) associate - The defendant’s contrite behavior was not an
act; he truly felt great ------ for the crime of
which he was accused.
(A) apprehension
(B) indigence
(C) foresight
(D) bliss
(E) remorse - Even though she was unable to walk without
a limp, she did not allow this ------ to ------ her
ability to run short sprints for the track team.
(A) deterrent.. spur
(B) barrier.. impel
(C) abstinence.. thwart
(D) impediment.. hamper
(E) pathos.. hinder